MOSCOW COURT UPHOLDS GAY PRIDE BAN

The Moscow City Court has upheld a ban on gay Pride in the Russian capital, despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling that this is a human rights violation.

Organisers had hoped to hold a gay Pride parade in May next year, although the city has refused to allow the event to go ahead for the past seven years.

Tuesday’s decision upheld a July ruling by the Tverskoi District Court supporting the city’s ban.

In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights found that Moscow’s ban on Pride events violated the right to freedom of assembly and that the city had unlawfully discriminated against the organisers of gay pride events on the basis of sexual orientation.

Activist and Pride organiser Nikolai Alexeyev said that he would once again turn to the European Court of Human Rights but it’s unclear if this will have any impact on the Russian authorities who have ignored the previous ruling.

“Russia is simply isolating itself from the modern world, while advocating its perspective of traditional values,” Alexeyev told Gay Star News.

“I think Russia is becoming more aggressive because there is increasing pressures from all sides, from the European Union, the United Nations, international diplomacy and so of for more protection of LGBT rights,” he said.

While homosexuality is legal in Russia, the LGBT community has become victim to the ongoing erosion of human rights and freedom in the country.

Moscow legislators are said to be planning to follow in the footsteps of the country’s second largest city, St. Petersburg, by banning “homosexual propaganda” which would further outlaw any public gay or lesbian events.

Earlier this month, between 15 and 20 men wearing surgical masks brutally attacked party-goers celebrating National Coming Out Day in Moscow.